Work Text:
When Cho woke up, Jane was gone. He sighed and stretched, glancing over at the clock on his desk to see it was 5am. He didn’t normally wake up until 6 on workdays. He stumbled to his feet and headed for the bathroom. He stripped off his soiled and wrinkled clothes and hopped in the shower. After his shower he got dressed for work.
Even though it was early, he decided to head into work. He stopped for a bagel and coffee on the way and was there by 6am. As he expected, no one was in yet. He headed straight to his desk and got started on some paperwork.
Around 7, everyone else started to trickle in. Van Pelt got to the bull pen first, around 6:45 am. She was shocked to see Cho had beaten her. Lisbon got in around 6:55 and Rigsby slid in at 7 on the dot.
As it got closer to when Jane usually showed up, Cho became a little on edge. He had quickly come to terms with what happened while in the shower that morning. He knew that he personally would keep things professional In the office with Jane. There was no need to bring their personal life into work, and he liked to believe Jane would think the same. What worried him was how Jane would react overall. Would he ignore Cho completely until the whole night was forgotten, would he corner Cho later to actually discuss it. It was all up in the air.
Jane never showed up before 9, unless they had a case, so it was surprising when he popped in at 7:30 with coffee and tea for everyone, perfected to their liking.
Cho knew he had to have imagined their hands brushing together when Jane handed him his tea.
Cho observed Jane when he wasn’t looking. The man looked well rested for once and had a chipper smile on his face. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but Cho knew that even if something about last night was bothering Jane, he wouldn’t’ be able to spot it. Not if Jane was hiding it.
They got a call at 9am and then it was business as usual for the next couple weeks. Cho didn’t bring up the night, and neither did Jane. Cho didn’t treat Jane differently, and vice versa. Cho even began to think that maybe Jane didn’t even remember what happened.
Jane hadn’t forgotten a thing. He remembered every detail of that night. He knows that when Cho looked at his lips, he looked at Cho’s. Cho may have leaned in first, but Jane didn’t come anywhere close to stopping him. The reason he left without saying a word was that he needed time to think it through. Did he regret leaving? Yes. Did he regret what happened? Not even kind of.
He didn’t bring it up because he was trying to figure out the best way to do so, and then it seemed that too much time had passed to really bring it up in casual conversation. So, he needed a plan. First, Jane started with subtle things, like brushing his hand against Cho’s when handing him his tea. After that it was the touches. Jane was a touchy feely person, so it wasn’t odd for him to touch Cho’s shoulder, or even his arm during a case.
What was different was he didn’t touch Van Pelt or Rigsby the same way anymore. Just Cho.
Then Jane realized he was being too subtle. Cho wasn’t picking anything up like he usually did. He was off his game.
So he picked it up a notch.
After they found the body of Jason Sands in his own safe, the team attended the funeral a few days later. They were all chatting about suspects, and Jane made sure to stand slightly too close to Cho, who didn’t move away. After Van Pelt and Lisbon left, the three men headed over to the food table and observed the crowd from there. Then they discussed Rigsby’s feelings for Van Pelt.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” Jane asked Rigsby.
“No.” Rigsby responded.
“Have you told her how you feel?”
“She's a co-worker, it's against the rules. That's how I feel.”
“That's not how you feel.”
“I sent out the vibes, I got none back. So I'm leaving it alone.” Rigsby admitted.
“Vibes. Really? Vibes?”
“That's where he stares at the back of her neck. Women love that.” Cho added.
“Oh, shut up, Cho.”
Jane caught a glimpse of Cho’s smirk, and thought for a moment that it was a good look on the man.
“You gotta go get her, man. You gotta seduce her.” Jane said, turning back to Rigsby.
“Seduction's not my strong point.”
“Seduction's easy once you know the basic principles. There's nothing to it.”
“Oh, really? I don't see a crowd of women following you around.”
“Why would I want a crowd of women following me?”
“Okay, I'll bite. What's the basic principle?”
Jane was pleased. “Cost you a dollar.”
“For what?”
“So you'll pay attention.”
Rigsby sighed, pulled out his wallet and handed over a dollar.
“Love and affection.” Jane said.
“What?”
“Love and affection.”
“Give me my dollar back.” Rigsby demanded.
“When you're seducing someone, what are you offering them? Love and affection. Who doesn't want love and affection? It's simple.”
“Seriously, give me my dollar back.”
“Let me demonstrate. I will bet you 100 more of these dollars that I can seduce any person here.” He winked at Cho when Rigsby wasn’t looking. “Actually, for the sake of the bet, I’ll narrow it down to any woman here.”
“Okay. The widow.” Rigsby decided.
Jane smiled his kilowatt smile. Perfect. Just who he wanted. He headed off towards the widow, ignoring the other men’s protests.
For the rest of the case, Jane did his best to stay professional, which wasn’t an issue since he didn’t go soft on the widow. Not when he was thinking about Cho. He kept up with the subtle touches, and even added hidden smiles into the game, purposely sharing a smile with just Cho. After that he gave Cho his undivided attention, something he never did as his mind was always a hundred places at once. That’s when he knew Cho was starting to pick up his signs.
When Cho would finish speaking, he’d shoot Jane odd looks, not used to the intense looks he was getting.
Jane saw Cho’s mind work to piece it all together, putting together that Jane was showing him subtle affection. Now Jane just needed to add in the love, and they’d be square.
After Jane started paying attention to him, Cho pieced it all together. The touches, the wink, the hidden smiles. Jane was doing his best to show him subtle affection, and if that had anything to do with what Jane said at the funeral, it meant that Jane was trying to seduce him.
Cho literally didn’t know what to think right away. He could feel Jane’s eyes on him, likely waiting for the response to this discovery. Cho kept a straight face and returned to his work, but his mind continued to race.
How did he feel about this? Did he like it? Was he opposed to it? Mainly, was it working? Was he being seduced?
The case was over, so he had plenty of work to do to distract himself. He felt Jane’s eyes on him for the rest of the day, and he tried to give nothing away.
If he was honest with himself, what had happened between them that night weeks ago, while quick, had been hot as hell. Would he want to repeat that? Possibly.
Add to that the attention he’d been getting from Jane, and he honestly didn’t find himself opposed to any of it. He kind of liked the affection. The touches, the secret smiles.
But could he act on these thoughts? Relationships between co-workers weren’t allowed. Yet, Jane was technically a consultant, not an official coworker. It could pass.
After work, Cho headed back to his apartment. He showered away the boring day and got dressed in sweats and a t-shirt. As he was about to make dinner, someone knocked on his door. He guessed it was a neighbor but was shocked to find Jane on the other side of that door holding takeout and tea for them both.
A bright, kilowatt smile on his face.